When President Dallin H. Oaks became President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of the first things he taught was “Jesus Christ is the way.”
Elder David P. Homer, General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Church’s Priesthood and Family Department, said that teaching from President Oaks is the best context for the upcoming changes to the Sunday meeting schedule, where members will have two 25-minute classes each Sunday after a one-hour sacrament meeting
“This is part of a long-going effort on the part of the Church to try and help members to become more devout and lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ,” Elder Homer said on the Church News podcast this week.
Another benefit of the new schedule is that it will connect what is happening at home with what is happening at church in a more direct way, Elder Homer explained. Now everyone will discuss “Come, Follow Me” every week in their Sunday School classes.
Meeting weekly in Young Women, Relief Society and priesthood quorums will also increase belonging and community.
As Elder Homer has been a part of the discussions for this change, he has come to appreciate more than anything that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life (see John 14: 6).
“In response to all the commotion and to all the chaos and to all the confusion of the world that we live in, His message is so simple: ‘Come, follow me.’ And so He’s trying to help us understand: Here are some ways that we can take a step closer to Him.”
Moving forward
Lessons will look different moving forward, Elder Homer said. Teachers may think they have to impart a lot of important information. “But it’s really more about helping people to share what they’re thinking, what they’re feeling and what they’re experiencing.”
Teachers can make more of a deliberate effort to immediately get into what the scriptures or what the conference talks are teaching, he said. Announcements or conversations about other topics can be shortened or done in a different time or manner.
And to help teachers, the new schedule will allow teacher council meetings to be held more regularly.
Meanwhile, new youth curriculum will utilize an expanded “For the Strength of Youth” guide.
Elder Homer said the excitement or apprehensions that people might have about the second hour should not crowd out the fact that sacrament meeting remains that most important part of the Sabbath day, “where we have a chance to make covenants that will change who we are as people.”
Additional resources
As teachers, leaders and members look forward to the Sunday meeting schedule update in September, they should familiarize themselves with the resources found at sunday.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, Elder Homer said. This landing page has answers to frequently asked questions, a link to an implementation guide in several languages, discussion questions and details about the next steps.
“We felt like that was important so that people would be able to spend some time and then with their ward councils think about: ‘OK, how are we going to do this? What changes are we going to make? How can we help to do all of those things?’” Elder Homer said.
On Sunday, Aug. 30, youth, children who will turn 12 in 2027, their parents and their leaders are invited to attend a meeting about the new youth curriculum.
Additional video materials will be available the first week of August for wards and branches to watch together on Sunday, Sept. 6, to explain what happens next.
For example, one video contains an example of a Sunday School teacher showing how to get into a lesson quickly, Elder Homer said. Another video features Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson and Elder Arnulfo Valenzuela of the Presidency of the Seventy discussing the new format for Relief Society and elders quorums meetings.
And another video has Elder David A. Bednar and Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking about sacrament meeting.
Elder Homer said that in the April 2026 general conference leadership instruction, Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles talked about how “the implementation of this is going to be really important for us to realize the blessings that the Lord wants to shower upon His people.”
That’s why, while the announcement was made in March, the changes aren’t happening until September — so that members and leaders can be prepared.
“Change is not always easy, and it’s easy to try and poke holes in what the changes are,” Elder Homer said. “But I really believe that when we just embrace them and we just start to go forward with what we have here, I think members are going to be genuinely delighted with what they find their experience is.”
